Online, on the road

Road to the future

Here are the bright ideas already submitted to our competition

This is so obvious

The car technology in the next ten years never mind thirty years is computer control using speed ,distance and braking incorporating road conditions, to control the safe distance to the car in front. The vehicles speed will be adjusted automatically and will also take account of imposed speed limits.

The self -sustaining car

This electric car is an energy recycling system, the battery is charged by the cars momentum, heat from brake-pads, a solar roof /solar-celled paint, air vents channelling air flow to internal wind turbines. All the energy generated powers the car resulting in no requirement for external energy input or fuel.

Free for life

Reverse Pollution

Cars fitted with artificial photosynthesising technology to fuel in-car functions e.g. air con. These would hoover up pollutants from vehicles such as HGVs which had not yet achieved an emission free state and emit clean air. The image of the car would move from city pollutant to city cleanser.

Space

I believe that the biggest innovation will be the design that cars will have more space than there is on the out side of the car. since this breaks the space time continuum as we perceive it. Super Space as it will be known will branch to many less important developments.

Water Car

In 30 years, u'll be able to feed yr car e water.1-10-20 years; Hydrogen cars. H2 produced by water splitting by using solar cells in tandem cell.2-20-30 years, tandem cell can be inserted into the car & by using a mix of solar&mechanical energies, which can be produced by using generators to convert the mechanical movement of the car wheels into electricity, to produce hydrogen to move the car

Gas Turbine Re-enters a Winner

The Gas Turbine will dominate the future electrically driven wheels with rare-earth magnet motors. Gas Turbines will use almost any burnable fuel (geologic, biologic, or photosynthetic)to charge and recharge the car's battery.
This advance will closely mimic the improvement of diesel-electric locomotion in trains over steam.

Speeding

The use of sat nav technology that moniters speeds of cars as they drive should be used to make sure any driver does not exceed the speed limit, especially in built up ares. Actions should be taken against people who break the law and speed via this technology combined with speed cameras/traps.

Car Trains Just Around the Bend

By 2042, major cities will offer commuters the option of joining "car trains" traveling along sensor-studded lanes that move semi-autonomous communicating vehicles in and out of congested downtowns at speed. Initially a luxury, these tracks will pay for themselves by reducing travel time, accidents, and stress.

Driver/car awareness

My idea is simple, I would like a car that tells the driver that they are driving incorrectley, whether speeding, doing a wrong turn, going the wrong way up a one way street, etc... the technology is there, I think that drivers should be made more aware of their driving quality.

Water Car

In 30 years, u'll be able to feed yr car with water instead of oil.The first stage of cars within 10-20 years is to work with Hydrogen which can be produced via water splitting by using low-cost nanostructured thin films in a Tandem cell.On the second stage 20-30 years, the tandem cell can be inserted into the car.

M2M

Machine to Machine (M2M) communications is already part of our lives but will be taken to the next level as moving machines (cars) will communicate with each other and with street furniture. By computing anticipated road conditions and responding to vehicular projected path analysis, M2M will reduce the quantity and nature of collisions by a significant percentage (est 80%) What can be more important than 1m lives saved?

Pollution-free motoring driven by air.

Liquified air (Highview Power Storage) will be expanded through a small on-board turbine (Bladon Jets) to generate electricity to keep a battery charged and drive high density regenerative braking motors on each wheel (Evo Electric); maximum efficiency will stem from lightweight construction (Axon Automotive) and real-time torque control (Transense Technologies).

No more petrol,diesel and much less CO2

Thirty years is probably long enough to see the development of the technology and infrastructure for entirely electric cars to dominate. My bet is battery storage in this timeframe, with big improvements in energy recovery. Acceleration and efficiency are not the challenge,range and cost are.